Bowls: Thomson in quarter-finals

Andy Thomson, winner of the Saga World Indoor Championship in 1994 and 1995, cruised through to the quarter-finals of this year's event with a convincing 3-1 win over South Africa's Neil Burkett in Preston.

Thomson needed only three ends to take the first set after opening with a maximum four and adding a single and double for a 7-0 whitewash.

Thomson dominated the second set, leading from the opening end to wrap up a 7-3 win in six ends, but Burkett counted on four of five ends played in the third set for a 7-1 win.

However, Thomson got back into his stride in the fourth set, opening with three successive singles before Burkett picked up a fourth-end single.

But that proved his last contribution to the scorecard and a two from Thomson gave him the set 7-1, and the match.

New Zealand's Rowan Brassey captured the last quarter-final spot when beating the three-times former champion Richard Corsie in a five-set match. Brassey captured the opening two sets, but Corsie put up a determined fight, claiming the third and fourth to force the game into a decider.

Corsie said: "I was happy with the way I played but I didn't think I got a break from start to finish and that's what made the difference."